TL;DR
- Aave’s founder projects a tokenized asset market worth about $50 trillion and places solar energy at the center of that expansion.
- The market already totals $25 billion in on-chain RWAs, mainly composed of bonds and equities.
- Grayscale applied for a spot AAVE ETF with Coinbase as custodian and a 2.5% fee.
Aave founder Stani Kulechov described a potential market of up to $50 trillion in tokenized assets by 2050 within decentralized finance. His proposal focuses on so-called “abundance assets,” meaning productive infrastructure and technologies whose capacity grows over time.
According to data from RWA.xyz, roughly $25 billion in real-world assets are currently tokenized on-chain. Most of the value comes from US Treasury bonds, equities, commodities, private credit and real estate. Kulechov said that segment will continue expanding, although the strongest growth would come from productive assets tied to energy and technology.
The Future of Solar Energy
Within that category, solar energy could represent between $15 trillion and $30 trillion of the projected total. The proposed framework involves tokenizing a $100 million solar project to obtain about $70 million in financing and redeploy that capital into new installations. On-chain investors would earn returns backed by physical infrastructure.
The model also includes energy storage batteries, robotics, vertical farming, lab-grown food, semiconductors and 3D printing. Tokenized infrastructure would allow continuous trading of positions instead of locking capital for long periods, enabling funds to be reassigned into new developments.
Aave Fails to Recover
Aave holds about $27 billion deposited for lending and borrowing. Despite that volume, the AAVE token declined roughly 15% in 2026 and currently trades near $126 per unit, more than 80% below its May 2021 peak.
Meanwhile, Grayscale Investments filed a Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to convert its trust into a spot ETF that would trade on NYSE Arca under the ticker GAVE. The fund would hold AAVE tokens directly, charge a 2.5% fee, and use Coinbase as custodian and prime broker. Bitwise Asset Management also proposed an ETF for the token.
Aave Labs also announced the shutdown of the Avara brand and the closure of the Family wallet, along with transferring the Lens project to Mask Network
